For years past politicians have been "worried by inconvenient electors to turn their attention t> the re-afforestation of the country. but without effect. Politics were too strong to allow far-sighted sense the ghost of a chance, for when politicians touched a subject such as afforestation they knew they were making demands upon the exchequer and that there would be no return en the money spent for another 80 years. The position is, of course, worse than ever now, for during the war forests were' cut down ruthlessly, and many people in the country were surprised at the vast amount of treasure they represented, so long had_ timber been considered as an article to be imported. Thefd is, however, 2 chanes for our forests in the gift which America has just made of 380,000.000 seeds of different types of trees, destined to enable not only France and Belgium but also Great Britain to restric the forests which were sacrificed for victory. Tt may be hoped that the scheme mentioned during the war for afforesting som> of the most shell-torn areas will now be put in hand, and that Great Britain will also take up the matter of her timber resources seriously. While the country was cleared of a certain portion of its wood, there must be many forests ready for felling, for it must be remembered that after reaching a certain age growing timber deteriorates.. In
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.